Now Is the Time!

This year, one thing after another has tried to pull our focus away from the need for God’s Word. Natural disasters, oppressive regimes, uprisings . . . and COVID-19. But still, Christ has given us work to do!

The reality is that people are dying every day without knowing Jesus. This thought is a heavy burden on my heart. And we are hearing from Bible translation leaders overseas, too, that this year has intensified translators’ sense of urgency to share God’s Word with their people.

They are saying, “It must be now—we can’t wait for our people to know Christ!”

They have seen people around them looking for answers this year. We have even heard that online “underground” churches and small groups are growing in number, as people wonder whether Christianity might hold the answers they’re looking for. But church leaders also tell us they still need God’s Word in the language of their hearts for these people to truly hear God and know that He is the answer they need.

Work While It Is Day

In John 9:4, Jesus’ words encapsulate our focus in spite of everything around us: “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.”

We are called to share God’s Word—no matter the circumstances—because we only have a few more hours of daylight. We only have a small window of time in which we can accomplish the mission that God has set before us.

Souls are precious to God, so we need to do everything we can to give more people the opportunity to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We can’t let COVID-19 steal any of the daylight hours we have remaining to advance God’s Word.

And the good news is God is opening opportunities for these translators—and for you—to share His translated Word.

Tablets Are the Key!

Computer tablets are the key technology to empowering the local church and equipping national Bible translators to continue their work and start new translations. Thanks to tablets, even in this year of social distancing and travel restrictions, translating God’s Word has not come to a screeching halt!

Tablets are loaded with translation resources, and with their internet access, translators can continue to work together while remaining physically distant!

These tablets allow translators to work “under the radar” in dangerous places—places of intense anti-Christian persecution. They enable translators to work quickly and in collaboration while accessing a digital library of translation resources for greater speed and accuracy. Tablets set the stage for God’s Word to be immediately duplicated, printed, and shared . . . and tablets also protect the translation work, uploading and storing it in the cloud.

By God’s grace, we implemented the use of tablets before the global pandemic, and now, these tools are the foundation of translation workshops moving forward.

And the requests for more tablets are coming in—we cannot keep up with the demand!

We Need Your Help

Looking ahead to 2021, we already have requests for 300 tablets to be sent to the field in the first few months.

These translators are hoping we’ll respond, and I’m thrilled to share that generous friends—who are as passionate about Bible translation as you—have stepped up, offering a $50,000 Matching Challenge to help raise the funds for these tablets!

This is where we need your help—for $300 you can provide a tablet loaded with translation resources and tools. Tablets are the technology national Bible translators need to end generations of waiting and longing for God’s Word in their heart language.

And because of the generous Matching Challenge, any gift you give today will double in impact to empower the local church, up to the full $50,000 value of the Matching Challenge.

Please don’t miss this opportunity to support the work of Bible translation . . . “while it is still daylight.”

—Tim